Zoe of Byzantium

Zoe of Byzantium (978-1050) was the Empress of the Byzantine Empire in 1042, succeeding Michael V of Byzantium and preceding Constantine IX of Byzantium.

Biography
Zoe was born in 978 to the House of Makedon, a dynasty of Orthodox Christian Greeks. She was the daughter of Constantine VIII of Byzantium, but neither her father nor her uncle Basil II of Byzantium had children, so in 1028 she married general Romanus Argyros, and he became the new emperor. He died in 1034, so she remarried to Emperor Michael IV of Byzantium and then Constantine IX of Byzantium. She reigned only in 1042, between her marriages to Michael and Constantine, and she died in 1050, while her husband Constantine was still reigning. During her reign as Empress Consort, she had a rivalry with her sister Basilissa Theodora; she was not interested in politics, but Zoe would not let Theodora conduct public business alone.